Aroma, Taste and Appearance Analysis for Food & Cosmetic Research

From the roof of the school building, visitors can observe a majestic nature overlooking Lake Abashiri, Lake Notoro and the Sea of Okhotsk. On the other hand, the campus houses cutting-edge laboratories, seminar rooms and a farm to support research in various fields. Such a rich environment is favorable for interdisciplinary research, which ranges from production & processing to distribution. In cooperation with each region, the faculty actively develops research activities directly linked to local industry.

FOX, ASTREE & IRIS: 3 complementary instruments for sensory analysis

In the Department of Food and Cosmetic Science, renamed since aromas have been added to the research field in 2012, teams are working on a wide range of educational and research activities. Their expertise ranges from the microbiology and storage methods to the development process of cosmetics and food products. At the request of industrial companies, the department has conducted a number of joint research projects focusing on new products development. This represents an important part of the department’s activity.

“For aromas studies, our initial plan was to introduce a new instrument as a complementary tool for sensory evaluation. We then met Alpha MOS which recommended not to focus only on the aroma analysis but to combine these results with those of taste and appearance in order to achieve an objective assessment correlated with sensory evaluation.” explains Professor Hiroaki SATO.

“Alpha MOS instruments are widely used overseas. We have decided to acquire three systems for sensory analysis: FOX e-nose, ASTREE e-tongue and IRIS e-eye.”

Combined analysis of aroma, taste & appearance

Multilateral analyses of aroma, taste and appearance conducted with the three instruments helped the research teams to study the differences in origins and varieties of food products such as:

Beef

Potatoes

Fish soy sauce

Barley

Coffee

When students have questions about the operation of an instrument, they receive a web support from Alpha MOS.

Future projects

By taking advantage of the results provided by the Fox e-nose, the Astree e-tongue and the IRIS e-eye, the teams plan to conduct further research and development in food and cosmetics, wishing that this will contribute to the revitalization of industries around the country.